


Frozen Seas

by R_the_Undying



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Scientist Mei-ling zhou, merman junkrat, no canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:46:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_the_Undying/pseuds/R_the_Undying
Summary: Scientists at the International Ecological Institute discover an injured merman in a net off of the coast of Australia. This merman is taken to Fiji for studies, where he is placed in a solitary tank with no social contact.Scientist Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou takes pity on the suffering creature and rallies to have an ecosystem created in his enclosure, much to the dismay of the lead scientist, who treats the merman as an object of study and not a living thinking being.What will become of the captured merman and his human friend? Only time will tell.





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> First Chapter!  
> Loving my idea for this, just wanting to see how far i can take it.

The lead scientist looked up at the headstrong subordinate who had so rudely interrupted her tests.

  
“Dr. Zhou, you of all people should know how detrimental it is to interact with the animals, especially the aquatic test subject. What were you thinking giving it any type of company?”

  
The subordinate, Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou, backed up slightly saying with a soft voice, “Aquatic JR-25 isn’t like the others. Ever since we captured him off of the south Australian coast he hasn’t progressed as thought. He looks bored, swimming around in that tank alone.” She paused before blurting out, “how would you like to be stuck in a white room with nothing except for a window to an unknown room.”

The lead scientist shook her head, “Aquatic JR-25 is just a dumb animal. We’ve proven that already. It never reacts to anything, not even a stern jabbing of the side with the tank cleaner. You need to face the facts, Dr. Zhou. That thing doesn’t need enrichment. It just needs to die so we can dissect it and discover how it ticks.”

  
“Torture, confinement, cruelty” Mei then said, staring at the lead scientist.

  
“I beg your pardon” the lead scientist said as she adjusted her red framed glasses.

  
“You heard me, Ma’am.” Mei shouted, “If this gets out you are keeping an undiscovered species in a cramped tank with nothing except for an occasional dead fish for interaction, you’ll be put away. And worse than that, you will never practice your science or medicine again.”

  
“Fine” the lead scientist sighed, “You win, Mei. We’ll install a reef for it to interact with. Come to think of it, a natural ecosystem might yield truer results in our studies.”

  
“Oh, Dr. Zhou” the lead scientist said as Mei began to turn around to leave the room, “the subject needs feeding, do you mind doing the honors since you and it are so close?”

Mei nodded, leaving the main study room. She walked to the elevator, humming a tune. Placing her finger on the touch screen, a robotic voice chimed out,  
“Hello Dr. Zhou, which floor do you need?”

  
“Basement floor 7 please” Mei smiled, entering the elevator. The doors closed as Mei traveled down to the very last floor of the International Ecological Institute. Leaving the elevator, Mei entered the poorly lit room. She walked back to a door labeled “Subject JR-25, Absolutely No Unauthorized Personnel Allowed.”

  
She entered the code to the door and opened it, hearing a click as the lock set behind her. She retrieved a raw fish from the cooler and walked close to the dark tank.

  
The tank was small and very cramped. The inside was dark, and the subject was hidden from view. There was barely any light in the room, and the tank wasn’t lit at all.  
Mei hit the light switch, illuminating the room and the dark tank. The subject still hid in the corner of the tank. Light was an odd occurrence for him.

  
While still humming a tune, Mei climbed the small ladder to throw the fish into the tank. She looked down into the clear watered tank. The scientist shuttered, she had always had an irrational fear of deep water and the unknown life that dwelled there.

  
Suddenly, she felt her knees buckle. She screamed as she fell into the water, splashing hard as she hit the surface. She felt the water surround her as she blacked out, unknowing if she would survive or not.


	2. From the Eyes of the Creature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The merman discovers the human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chaper 2!  
> its a shortie but it's a goodie

The merman swam around the perimeter of the tank. He was bored, lonely, and very hungry. He breathed slowly, water pumping over his gill slits. His large eyes scanned the door as he felt the presence of someone else.

Slowly he swam up to the port that looked out over the room. Through the large door he saw a form pass into the room.

He intently watched the scientist retrieve the dead fish, his meal. His stomach ached. He hadn’t eaten in weeks.

His form filled with fear as he heard her walk up the step ladder. He cowered in the deep end of his tank, hoping she would go away.

Watching, he saw her fall. Feeling the immense splash from the scientist’s fall, he looked up from his corner.

The merman watched the scientist’s hair flow out as her glasses and hairpin fell out. Her hair looked beautiful.

His mind raced. He didn’t know what to do. Should he help her, should he save her, should he let her drown?

He swam forward, and then back. He was afraid. He didn’t know what to do.

He watched her sink to the bottom of the tank. He saw her gently rest at the bottom. She looked so serene.

He swam up to her and placed his hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat slowing. The beats spaced out. Small bubbles escaped from her mouth. '

The merman scooped the scientist into is arms as he swam her to the surface. He pushed her up and out with all of his strength and into a large net used for his transportation from tank to tank.

He poked his head out of the water and watched her to make sure she was breathing.


	3. Visually Disturbed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mei wakes up, but what does she discover?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!  
> good gosh i haven't stopped have i!

Feeling her senses return to her, Mei opened her eyes to a blurred vision of the room. Her head spun as she tried to establish her bearings.

Her form was soaked. Her hair was strewn around, no longer in the neatly kept bun that she wore.

She tried to stand up. Her legs were wobbly and unstable. Moving around the room in a stumble she looked for her missing glasses.

Meanwhile, in the tank, the merman held in his hand the glasses of the scientist. He smiled, fidgeting around with the frames.

Grinning he placed them up to his face. His pupils sharply retracted as the strong prescription of the glasses painfully strained his eyes.

He forcefully tossed the glasses out of the tank with a large splash as his tail hit the surface of the water.

Mei jumped a bit as she heard the splash. She looked around, squinting. She reached for a black object on the ground that was thrown from the tank.

Lifting up the object, it was clear to Mei that it was her glasses. Placing them on her face she looked to the tank, then away, then back to the tank.

She pondered a thought until she said it softly, “did you save me?” Mei smiled, moving to take a shower. While showering, she couldn’t stop thinking about the events from the previous night. Had he really saved her? Was he more human than she had ever imagined?

Mei wrapped her hair up in a towel and put on a fuzzy robe over her pajamas. She moved into the lab and sat down at a small table covered in lab reports and paperwork on the merman.

She began to thumb through the papers to look for any important information.

“Here we go, feeding schedule” Mei paused, looking at the numbers hastily written on the paper.

“No” she said; her eyes widening. “No no no! How could they!”

Mei flipped the pages violently. It was clear to her what had happened. The staff in charge of feedings and checkups had only done so for the first few months. Since then, no one had been feeding the merman.

The merman looked up in med chew of the dead whitefish that Mei had placed in his tank when she fell in. He could feel her anger and it frightened him.

The short Chinese woman huffed as she stomped to the freezer room where the fish that the merman was fed were kept.

“Why on earth would they do this?” Mei growled, looking at the freezer full of long dead and rotting fish. “You poor thing, they haven’t fed you for months! No wonder you’re starved.”

The merman, who had begun to cower in the corner of the tank from the aura Mei emitted, watched the scientist move around the room, gathering something in a large bucket.

Mei hauled a large bucket of all of the decent fish. She groaned, “I’m going to take care of you now.”

She placed the bucket on her shoulders and hoisted it up over the tank, pouring all of the fish into the water with the merman.

The merman’s pupils dilated with joy as the fish fell around him. He hadn’t seen this much food in months and wasted no time biting into the small fish with his sharp teeth.

Mei stared into the tank as the merman darted around while capturing fish in his mouth.

She smiled, “oh thank goodness, you’re eating.”

Turning around, Mei walked over to the table and began to write a letter to her superiors.

The letter stated,

“To all of whom it may concern,

I, Mei-Ling Zhou, have decided to monitor specimen JR-25 for as long as it takes for him to open up to us. I am witnessing interesting and important discoveries by the minute and have come to the conclusion that I will move into the large lab room and monitor the specimen as close as possible for my personal studies.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou “

Mei smiled as she signed her name. Looking up she noticed that the merman had become more active. This gave her inspiration as she picked up her sketchbook to begin her field notes and anatomical drawings of him.


	4. The Sketch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finally sees him, and she's memorized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4!
> 
> getting ready for exciting stuff in 5!

Mei looked down at her drawing, smiling as she sketched out the merman’s form.

She drew him as true to life as she possibly could. The scientist captured every nuance of his being; every fold of the skin, every scale.

The thing she noticed the most of was his eyes. The merman’s eyes were entrapping and captivating. They were huge; twice the size of human eyes.

As Mei sketched out the merman’s hands, she heard a tap on the glass behind her.

She jumped in fear as she turned around to see the merman’s face inches away from hers behind the six inch thick glass.

From there she could see his colors clearly. He was a gorgeous mottled yellow and gold along with a creamy white on his face and chest with mossy green and black stripes. His blonde hair was short and unkempt. His eyes were yellow and gold with large black pools for pupils.

The merman stared over her shoulder and looked at the drawings of him.

Mei smiled then, looking down to the drawing, and then up to him.

“I do believe I captured your likeness” she purred, holding the sketch up to him.

The merman smiled a toothy grin as he looked down to the picture.

Mei sat the drawings down as he eyed the tank. She sighed out, “my my, this tank is filthy. I wonder if anyone has cleaned it yet.”

The merman backed up from the glass, disappearing into the dark water.

The scientist shook her head, “you know what. I’m going to clean that tank and get you a coral reef. I know you’d like that. Anyway, the habitat you have isn’t true to your native Australia at all.”

A few weeks passed and Mei had arranged for a coral reef to be built in the merman’s enclosure.

She had slowly introduced cleaner water into the merman’s tank, which seemed to make him happier. He was for sure more active than that first day when Mei had first decided to live in the lab.

On this day, the coral reef was to be delivered, so Mei was to move the merman to her shower for safe keeping.

Mei had a large bathtub, about the same size as a twin bed. She had decided that she was going to keep him there until the renovations had been finished in his enclosure.

Hoisting the merman into a sling, Mei was able to move him into the bathtub which was already filled with water.

The merman slunk into the tub. His large fluke and half of his tail stuck out of the water. It was the only thing that didn’t fit in the tub.

Mei smiled down to the merman who looked up to her from under the water. He stared up at her with wonder with his large golden eyes.

She locked eyes with him, turning away as she felt her face flush.

Walking out of the room she closed the door behind him to await the coral reef company.


	5. Cut Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will happen when the merman's tub drains?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5!
> 
> i love this one, very excited by it!

Knocking could be heard at the door of the seventh floor. The reef company employees stood outside the door.

Mei opened the door smiling. She had drained the tank a few minutes before hand for the reef to be installed.

“Come in, please” she chimed as the workers entered the room and began to work on the tank installation.

At the same time, the merman lay in the large tub. He held Mei’s green loofah sponge in his hand. He studied it, pushing it against his nose and chest. It felt strange to him.

  
The sensation was strange as the sponge rubbed against his scaly skin. He jumped a bit as he brushed the object over his scales. This jolt had accidentally started to drain the tub. The merman was unaware of this.

The water began to drain from the tub. The merman didn’t notice the water dropping until it began to slip below his chin. He tried to sink deeper into the tub but the water began to drop lower and lower until his gills were exposed.

He began to panic as he tried to force water over his gills. He then felt a pain. This was no ordinary cramp or burn, this pain was tens of thousands of times worse than the worst pain known to man.

The merman began to cry, emitting a high pitched whine as he struggled in the sinking water.

Outside the bathroom, Mei inspected the tank. She smiled, it was beautiful. The tank was colorful and clean, she knew the merman would love it.

Suddenly, she heard something. It was a shrill cry. Her heart sank as she realized she had left the merman in the bathroom unsupervised for a long time.

Running into the bathroom she gasped as she saw the merman thrashing about in the draining tub. He was crying and writhing about, clearly in excruciating pain

“Oh no, oh please no, this is bad” Mei cried out.

Mei rushed up to the tub and began to try to clog the drain again. She was terrified that he would die without water. The merman thrashed violently, making it impossible for her to stop the draining water.

She placed her hand on smooth scaly his chest, pushing him down to make him stop thrashing.

The merman cried out loud. He was terrified and didn’t know what Mei was going to do to him. He was unaware she was trying to save him.

Feeling fear take over, the merman grabbed hold of Mei’s arm, pulling her into the draining tub. His claws penetrated deep into Mei’s soft arm.

Mei winced as the merman grabbed her arm. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t show fear. She was afraid that if she showed any type of pain or fear, the merman would be more afraid of what was happening and squeeze harder.

She violently smacked at the walls of the shower, looking for the sensor that turned on the shower heads. She felt her hand activate the sensor as water poured over them.  
Mei watched as the merman gasped for water. The shower heads gushed out water onto the scientist and the merman.

The wound on Mei’s right arm was bleeding profusely. Water hit it and blood streamed out, turning the water around them a light red.

Mei placed her hand under the merman’s chin, redirecting water flow to his gills.

The merman began to relax as the tub filled over his gills. He loosened his grip on Mei’s arm. Soon his claws slid out of her, showing green marks were they had been.

Mei didn’t care if she was in pain. She smiled to the merman who lay under the water, still whimpering. It had become clear to the merman that this human did not want to hurt him.

Mei was able to get the merman into his tank, which was a relief for both the scientist and the merman.

Taking precaution to dress her wound, Mei wrapped the cuts in bandages and gauze. She had poured hydrogen peroxide on the slices to prevent infection from setting in.

She stood in front of the tank, looking in.

The merman hid in a sea cave that had been constructed. He stared down at his hand, whimpering. He felt horrible. He never meant to hurt her.

Mei frowned. All she couldn’t see the merman at all which worried her.

“You can come out” she sighed, “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

She grasped her arm saying, “It’s my fault, really. If I hadn’t been distracted with admiring your tank you wouldn’t have almost died.”

Mei looked over to a notebook. She had written a name down on it. It was a character from a book she was reading that she admired.

“I feel like you need a name. I hate to call you “the merman” unless I need to. It makes everything feel less personal.”

She looked down at the name, smiling.

“Do you like the name Jamison? I’ve always liked that name.”

The merman peered out of the cave. He was intrigued. He swam close to the wall, placing his hand up to it. He then smiled wide, showing his sharp teeth.

“Oh? You do like it?” Mei purred, smiling up to him.

“It’s settled then, your name will be Jamison.”


	6. A Year Passing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year passes in the lives of Jamison and Mei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6! 
> 
> about the same size as chapter 2, short and sweet

A year passed, and Mei had taught Jamison Morse code and sign language.  She had also built a prosthetic arm for his right side, since his arm was amputated on arrival.

The arm and hand were state of the art using the newest technology to create a waterproof arm that would react to the nerve points in his existing stump.

Jamison was a fast learner. He mastered sign language within two months and learned Morse code faster than that.

Mei had observed that Jamison was very intelligent. He would often swim beside her as she walked by the tank, watching her read or draw. On occasion, she would ask him what he thought of her drawings, and he would sign in response his opinion.

One day, Mei sat on the couch watching Jamison swim around interacting with his environment.

She had a stack of books beside her of all different types; children’s, teens, and adults. She had been reading to him for a while. This was her routine. Every other day she would have Jamison choose books that she wants her to read to him.

Jamison smiled to Mei, placing his hands on the glass. He nodded to her, signaling that he was ready to be read to.

Mei lifted up the three books and asked, “Which ones, Jamison?”

Jamison looked at the books and then signed, "Two.”

“Book two it is” Mei smiled as she began to read lines from the book he had chosen, Moby Dick.


	7. Fish Cakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamison has is first real birthday. What will Mei do to surprise him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been very busy. Middle of classes for me and Hurricane Matthew messed up my system a bit. But I'm back in action!

Mei sat the book, Moby Dick, down after reading it in its entirety to Jamison.

It had been about a week since she had started reading it to him, and Jamison had been very intrigued by it.

Mei got up off of the couch to set the novel on the shelf of books that she had read to her merman friend.

She looked at the calendar which she barely used. The date was September 17th.

“Oh dear, the days really do get away from me when I’m here” she laughed.

She giggled then, “Happy Birthday to me. I’d love to see how the me from a year ago would react to my life now. She’d probably think I’d gone nuts.”

Jamison tilted his head, watching Mei laugh to herself.

Mei chuckled as she looked over to the confused Jamison.

She then paused looking to Jamison, thinking to herself, “poor thing, never knowing what a birthday is like.”

An idea then struck Mei as she hurried off out of view of Jamison. Mei had created a system for feeding Jamison.

She would give him a different fish every day from what was fresh and live at the fish market. She kept the fish in tanks in another room of the converted lab.

She scooped out three fairly large fish; a sea bass, a red snapper, and a Spanish mackerel, placing them in a bucket.

Jamison looked to Mei with intrigue as she hoisted the large bucket full of live fish to the top of his tank.

She walked out on the outcropping of the coral reef, struggling to carry the heavy pail.

“Happy Birthday you silly fish-man” she giggled as she poured the fish into the tank.

Jamison’s eyes widened as the fish from the bucket swam around him. He smiled ear to ear as he looked up to Mei, signing “thank you.”

Mei smiled as she watched Jamison dart in and out of the sea caves and around the artificial reef as he caught the large fish one by one.

She jotted down his behaviors in her journal. Smiling she drew a star next to the date and wrote beside it “Jamison’s birthday. Estimated age; 25 to 28”


End file.
